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Nike’s CEO is fired after a huge downfall of the business

2024.10.05 06:14:07 Jeongyun Lee
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[Photo Credit to Unsplash]

Nike is firing its CEO John Donahoe, citing declining recent sales margin and the lack of product innovation as a problem.

John Donahoe announced his retirement from the headquarter of Nike after October 13, passing the throne to Elliot Hill.

He was blamed for Nike's decline in performance from their original sales margin.

Nike’s recent quarter sale was 10 percent down from their past sales which have visualized their tragedy.

According to CNBC, Nike has asserted John Donahoe’s leadership skill as a major flaw to his business management, which prompted this decision to bring in new leadership under Elliot Hill, the new CEO to be enrolled.

John Donahoe was a chairman of Nike since January of 2020, after a career of consulting and executive roles.

However, his introduction, in fact, contributed to the collapse of Nike with his insufficient confrontation and improper decisions.

For instance, Nike was unable to deal with the problem of bulk buyers and high resale price.

Since the 2000s, Nike’s product has caught on resells with famous products easily going over $1000.

As to 2020 when John Donahoe got positioned at his current spot, the resale price got more vigorous with products such as Nike Dunks, Jordans, and famous collaborations came out.

Since his advancement, he failed to propose any action towards solving the problem which led customers to leave Nike for famous products being overpriced.

Moreover, his commissioning was insufficient to create innovative products like what they used to do in the past.

For example, Nike posted an ad with a quote of “winning isn’t for everyone” which caused audiences to speak out that NIke’s advertisements aren’t innovative enough like what it was in the past.

The advertisement contains pictures and videos of successful athletes or what they call “winners”, with a narrative speaking the players’ dedication towards their sports in a minute and a half video.

The problem is that Nike’s original slogan “Just do it” is the right opposite of the content of this ad; The slogan encourages every athlete despite their amount of dedication while the new ad literally says without working, you can’t win.

With the contrast between Nike’s slogan and the main message of the ad, viewers responded with negative opinions.

The advertisement has gone viral on the internet within days with controversies fleeing nearby.

Nike, to the point where they recruited Michael Jordan in 1984, has been considered creative; The trend of sportswear and fashion was never focusing away from Nike.

Not only Jordan, but superstars including Lebron James, Tiger Woods, and Serena Williams were all signed up by Nike, proving the dominance of the brand in terms of the sports market.

However, with the current declining situation, the gap between Nike and other competing companies is being shortened with brands such as Adidas, Puma, or even Hoka and On-running are trying to take it as an opportunity to capture the lead.

This mind blowing result is pulling out concerns of whether Nike can still play a dominant role using their creativity and innovation, or not.

In light of these challenges, John Donahoe was led to resign from his current role by October 13 as Nike will try to change their atmosphere with their new CEO.


Jeongyun Lee / Grade 9
Canadian International School Japan